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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27919351">The Magickal Worth of Love</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bookworm1063/pseuds/Bookworm1063'>Bookworm1063</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>CO Countdown 2020 [12]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Carry On Series - Rainbow Rowell</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Carry On Countdown (Simon Snow), Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 19:55:40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>806</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27919351</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bookworm1063/pseuds/Bookworm1063</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“On Love’s Light Wings is a practical spell,” Baz continues. “I’ve used it. It works, and it’s not likely to pull your lungs out through your shoulders. I agree it’s not the most accessible spell, but it’s the only one that doesn’t have the side effects.”</p>
<p>Baz and Penny debate the magickal worth of On Love's Light Wings.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Penelope Bunce &amp; Tyrannus Basilton "Baz" Pitch</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>CO Countdown 2020 [12]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2026988</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>39</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Carry On Countdown 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Magickal Worth of Love</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Penelope</strong>
</p>
<p>“It’s impractical,” I say. “There are too many requirements to make it work, and they’re all too hard to fill. If it were just being in love and having some understanding of 16<sup>th</sup> century English, <em>maybe</em>, but as it is…”</p>
<p>               “Nonsense,” Baz says. He’s sitting across from me on the sofa, holding his disgusting pumpkin mocha drink that he’s so fond of (I’ve never actually tried it, but Simon says it tastes like liquefied Halloween candy).</p>
<p>               “<strong>On Love’s Light Wings</strong> is a practical spell,” Baz continues. “I’ve used it. It works, and it’s not likely to pull your lungs out through your shoulders. I agree it’s not the most accessible spell, but it’s the only one that doesn’t have the side effects.”</p>
<p>               “You can use <strong>Up and Away</strong>,” I argue. “It works if it’s done right. If some idiot who just got their wand tries to fly over the moat, well, that will happen, but an experienced mage shouldn’t have a problem. And there’s <strong>Float Like A Butterfly. </strong>Which I’ve seen you use.”</p>
<p>               <strong>“Up and Away</strong> is designed for objects, not people,” Baz says. “And <strong>Float Like A Butterfly</strong> takes an incredible amount of magic even for short distances. I’m not sure that one’s designed for people, either.”</p>
<p>               “I’ll look it up,” I say. “But whether it is or isn’t, it clearly works.”</p>
<p>               I’m still not entirely sure how Baz and I ended up having this conversation. We’re both sitting around the flat, waiting for Simon to get home from his classes so we can go out to dinner. We got to talking about how we were going to get to the curry place, and Baz (jokingly, I think) suggested flying.</p>
<p>               “It works if you have unlimited magickal reserves,” Baz says. “I think it’s a great alternative for mages who can’t cast <strong>On Love’s Light Wings. </strong>But it’s not as sustainable long-term.”</p>
<p>               He has a point.</p>
<p>               “It’s still not accessible,” I say. “Unless you want to put the entire World of Mages through a class on the Great Vowel Shift of the Sixteenth Century, and even then, unless you’re planning to slip everyone a love potion, it’s not a spell you can count on them being able to use. And it’s not exactly the easiest thing to cast, either.”  </p>
<p>               “I don’t think a love potion would work,” Baz says thoughtfully. “Doesn’t it have to be genuine?”</p>
<p>               “I don’t know. Everything I’ve read just uses words like <em>stupidly</em> or <em>hopelessly</em>.”</p>
<p>               “Romeo and Juliette style,” Baz mutters. “How’s this, Bunce—it’s a good spell for people who can use it.”</p>
<p>               “Oh, sure,” I say easily. “I just don’t think it should be the standard for self-levitation spells.”</p>
<p>               “Still worth teaching, though,” Baz says.</p>
<p>               “Maybe,” I say. “I wouldn’t put it in front of a first year. I actually wanted to ask you something about that, though.”</p>
<p>               Baz tilts his head to the side. “First years?”</p>
<p>               “No. <strong>On Love’s Light Wings.”      </strong></p>
<p>Baz sets his drink down on the coffee table and waits.</p>
<p>               “How did you know you could cast it? That day in the Chapel.”</p>
<p>               We don’t talk about that day much, even now, so I see the moment it registers with Baz. He leans back against the sofa and crosses his arms.</p>
<p>               “We studied the Great Vowel Shift in class,” Baz says. “I’d done some reading on my own time. And as for the other requirement, I would have thought that was obvious, Bunce.”</p>
<p>               “Simon,” I say, even though neither of us needs to hear it.</p>
<p>               “Yes,” Baz says. “And I admit, I’d tried the spell… a few times before. In fifth year. I got this idea into my head that if I cast it, and nothing happened, it meant my feelings weren’t real.”</p>
<p>               “Did it work?” I lean forward, curious. I tried the spell once or twice when I was with Micah, but I was never able to pull it off. I haven’t tried it since I’ve been with Shep, though.</p>
<p>               “Crowley, no,” Baz snorts. “I was fifteen. I didn’t know what I was doing. I kept trying it, a couple of times a month, for most of that year. I actually read up on the Vowel Shift that summer.”</p>
<p>               “Then what happened?”</p>
<p>               “I finally pulled it off at the beginning of sixth year. Scared the shit out of myself and never tried it again. Until that night, of course.”</p>
<p>               “Wait.” I shake my head, stunned. “You risked your life, Simon’s, and mine, wasting time on a spell you’d only been able to cast once before? You are so lucky it worked.”</p>
<p>               “Not luck,” Baz points out. “Practice. And an inconvenient crush on your best friend.”</p>
<p>               “Not so inconvenient after all,” I say. “And you and I both know it was and is more than a crush.”</p>
<p>               I’m right, so Baz doesn’t argue with me.</p>
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